A proposal for a professional soccer team at defunct Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale is catching interest among devoted — but jilted — fans of the former Strikers team.

At a community meeting Wednesday night, the man who hopes to win a Lockhart Stadium deal away from star-powered David Beckham tried to woo what he called “the most hard core soccer fans in Fort Lauderdale.”

Fort Lauderdale city commissioners set a deadline of March 1 for proposals to breathe new life into the Lockhart Stadium acreage, at 1350 NW 55th St., near Fort Lauderdale-Executive Airport (FXE).

About 50 soccer fans gathered at a local bar to hear the pitch from Beckham’s competition, JP Reynal, CEO of FXE Futbol.

Reynal, a former college player, said he would bring Fort Lauderdale its own professional team, a tier lower than major league. He also announced a new partner in the project: Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp.

Some in the crowd said they were left in the lurch when past Fort Lauderdale-based soccer teams folded. They wanted assurance Reynal was committed.

“Are you going to stick it through and stay with us, as opposed to the last ownership?” asked Russell Williams.

Williams said many in the room were fans of the original Fort Lauderdale Strikers professional soccer team in the late 1970s and then a modern-day incarnation that last played in 2016. Another team, the Miami Fusion, also played in Lockhart before folding.

Derek Reese, leader of the local soccer fan club Flight 19, said the local soccer fans want a Fort Lauderdale team. For now, they “own” their own team, a league of amateur players called the Himmarshee Football Cub.

They don’t know Reynal well, but if he could give Broward its own professional team, one that lasts, they’d be elated.

“We’re just as world class as anyone else,” Reese said. “Why can’t we have a team that’s ours?”

They named their group after the U.S. Navy’s Lost Patrol bombers, who went missing in 1945 over the Bermuda Triangle, on a training mission from Fort Lauderdale.

“Kind of fitting, considering the number of teams who have disappeared over the years,” Reese said.

Williams said past team owners “gave us a lot of promises and grand ideas, and ended up leaving us.”

Inter Miami announced on Monday a proposal to the city of Fort Lauderdale for the design and construction of a state-of-the-art soccer...

Reynal proposes renovating Lockhart Stadium and creating a “full-on sports entertainment facility” with restaurants, shops, a Topgolf attraction and professional soccer/multipurpose fields. He said young soccer players would have easy access.

Beckham, a former Major League Soccer star, proposes replacing Lockhart with a training stadium for his soon-to-exist Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami CF. A third-tier, United Soccer League One team could play there, also. Top young soccer players would be sponsored to play in a youth academy.

A multipurpose sport stadium and a sport-centric community destination would be part of the renovation.

Paul McDonough, sporting director for Inter Miami CF, said his proposal brings jobs and economic benefits and provides fields and opportunities for young soccer players. Inter Miami is working on a deal to build its main stadium near Miami International Airport.

Though the team would be based in Miami-Dade, McDonough said Fort Lauderdale would be its home, too.

“If I go and bring all my professional players and all my academy players and everything associated with my club to Fort Lauderdale,” he said, “doesn’t that make it our home?”

Fort Lauderdale commissioners will decide later this year whether to enter a deal with Reynal or with Beckham’s group. In a recent public discussion, they said public access and youth sports programs at the 64-acre site would be key.